Staying Strong
by Courissez Pour Vos Reves
Summary: Sequel to A World Full of Hate. Kala finds herself needing to stay strong for her friend, for her family, and most importantly herself. Rated T.
1. Chapter 1: It's Back

**Hey guys! I know you missed me! Sorry it has been taking me a while to get to the sequel, it's just I wanted a writing break, you know? Anyways, this is a sequel to A World Full of Hate & if you haven't read it, go read it now. Because you might not understand parts of the story. Anyways, I am not Suzanne Collins and I don't own the Hunger Games. Enjoy.**

_The warmth produced by my coat isn't enough. I take one step at a time as I walk through the white blanketed forest. Every step I take produces a crunching noise beneath my feet. Following a trail of blood is what I am doing. I walk ever so slowly as to find what produced this, fearing the worst. The smell of the metallic blood is causing me to feel nauseous. I continue to walk until there is a bush in front of me. I kneel down by the bush, undoing the stiffness in my legs and slowly draw back the lean branches of the bush to find one of my worst nightmares. Mother is laying there dead, stab wounds to her chest and throat. I scream as loud as possible when the killer steps forward out of the brush she was previously hiding in. She had long dark hair and killing eyes. It was no one other than a girl I knew as Clove. I scream again as she pulls out a bloodied knife._

"Kala, wake up!" I hear my Mother say. My eyes break open. I am not in a forest, instead I am in a tangled mess with my sheets. "I knew I shouldn't have let you watch them…" Mother continues.

That's right! After years of begging, I am now seventeen years old, Mother finally let me watch her first Hunger Games. "No, I had to see it. To know what it was like."

"You should get back to sleep. It is one thirty six." She says looking at the clock on my night stand.

"Alright, I'll try." I say and she kisses my temple and leaves the room silently, closing the door behind her. After about an hour, I fall asleep again. This time my dreams are neutral, neither good, nor bad.

I wake up and look at my clock, ten o'five. It's Saturday and I am supposed to have a date with Markan later tonight, then Mother says she has to tell me and Apoy something very important, so I have to be home by seven pm. No later.

I get up and walk downstairs, still in my pajamas. I waltz over to the kitchen and find some cinnamon buns on the table. I find Apoy has four on his plate and chuckle. Gosh, when I was thirteen, I didn't eat that much. I sit down at my plate that was already set out for me. "Where are Mother and Father?" I ask Apoy.

"They left about an hour ago." Apoy says.

"Oh," I carefully take one of the sticky buns and shove a bite into my mouth. After only two of them, I am full. I leave the table and decide to watch television until Mother and Father get back from where ever they went.

After about an hour the door slams open and Father walks in with a silent solemn Mother trailing behind. I can see the sadness and grief in Mother's eyes. She sits down in the chair to the right of the couch and puts her head into her hands, her arms supported by her elbows pushing against the armrests. She doesn't cry. She just sits like that. "Are you okay, Mom?" Apoy asks. Mother doesn't respond or move. She just sits there like a statue. "Okay then..." Apoy leaves the room and walks upstairs.

"Mother?" I ask waving my hand in her face. She just takes her hand and pulls my hand out of her face. Then she goes back to the position she was in before. I sigh and walk upstairs. I go to my room and decide to start looking for some clothes. I find a dark blue t-shirt and some jeans. I then put on some black tennis shoes and decide Markan will just have to deal with it. I then go brush my hair out and braid it. I start to walk back downstairs after the hour it took to do all of that and find Mother laying on the couch staring at the ceiling. I stop mid stairs as I see Father walk in. Then don't notice me so I tip toe down to the bottom of the stairs and sit there.

"Katniss," Father starts, "you're mourning something that hasn't happened yet."

"But it will happen, so I might as well get used to it." She says in grief, her eyes still concentrated on the ceiling.

"No it won't. We won't let it happen. I won't let it happen." Father says a little angry. What are they talking about?

"But it will, I just know it." Mother says softly. She sits up and looks at him.

"If you keep acting like this, you will end up like your Mother. Then the kids will have to go what you went through!" Father yells. Mother just looks at him, goes into a flashback, and when she comes back she starts to cry. Mother rarely ever cries. She is so good at hiding her emotions. This is only the third time I have ever seen her cry. "Oh, Katniss, I'm sorry…" Father says calmly, wrapping an arm around Mother.

"No." Mother says as she pushes him away and stands up. She walks over to the closet by the kitchen door.

Father then stands up and follows her. Mother opens the closet and takes out a wooden bow and a sheath. She then, puts the sheath around her. Father says, "I really am sorry." He then wraps his arms around her waist from behind and kisses her neck.

"Stop," Is all Mother says as she pulls away and is out the door in a second.

Father then sighs and slouches into the couch, "Okay Kala, you can come out now."

I blush as I walk up to Father and sit down by him, "What's going on?"

Father sighs, "We meant to tell you this tonight, but I guess since you saw that I should tell you now."

"What?"

Father takes a deep breath, "The Games are back, Kala."

**I know this idea has been used before and what not. But it will only take up the story. I PROMISE! I just had to write it. :P Sorry if you hate the idea, but it won't be like any other one of these I promise! Anyways Review! ;)**


	2. Chapter 2: A Wonderful Date

**Hey guys! I love you all! Anyways, I am continuing my awesome writings and am giving you this chapter. Sorry, I'm trying to hurry things along because I really can't wait to get to a certain chapter! Anyways, I am not Suzanne Collins and I don't own anything! ;) Also someone asked how you pronounced Kalayaan, well it is pronounced Kal-aye-yawn. So yep! ;)**

"What!" I exclaim in confusion.

"The Hunger Games are back. In a month you and your brother will be entered into the reaping ball twenty times. Everyone else will be only entered once." He says grimly.

"That's unfair!" I announce.

"I know it is, but the Games are always unfair."

"I thought you and Mother fought for them to be over, and now there isn't any more Hunger Games!" I shout, angry at whoever decided for these "Games" to come back.

"The president died and so a new one took her place. His name is Tyrone Mathews. President Mathews brought the games back as punishment for rebelling." Father said sorely.

"I can't even talk about this anymore!" I grumble. I then run upstairs and hide under my covers, as if no one could harm me here. I just think for a while until I hear a knock on the door. I come out from under my blankets and realize it's seven o'clock. I have been hiding all day and that must be Markan downstairs. How am I supposed to explain the horrible mood I am in? Can I tell him? No. It would only create worry and ruin the night we are going to have.

"Markan is here, Kala!" I hear Mother call from downstairs. I guess Mother came home while I was hiding. I wonder why she didn't come get me earlier.

"I'll be down in a minute!" I yell back. I then look at myself in the mirror. It looks like some rats moved into my hair. I take out my braid and redo it. I now look as stunning as ever! I walk down the stairs and Markan is sitting on the couch, having a conversation with Apoy. Apoy has grown up so much since he was nine. A now matured thirteen-year-old takes the little innocent boy's place. I still see him as innocent though. He is very innocent to me.

"Ready to go?" Markan asks, standing up.

"Yeah, just let me grab my purse!" I shout as I run into the kitchen. I find Mother staring at every move I make, as if memorizing it to keep forever. I walk up and grab my purse off the counter and hug Mother. She has not aged a bit from her first games. Even at age forty-nine she still looks the same way she did at sixteen. That says something. "I'll be okay, Mother. I'm just going out on a date. I'll be back by eight, I promise." It makes her smile and nod. I walk out of the kitchen and into the living room, where Markan is waiting for me. He takes my hand and Father gives him a warning glance like he does before every date we go on. We then walk out the door. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see." He says. We walk into town. I try to forget the conversation Father and I just had, but it keeps creeping back into my thoughts. "We're here!" Markan exclaims.

I am forced out of my thoughts and am looking at a small restaurant that my family went to a lot for birthdays and such. We walk in and get a table for two. I just stare into his beautiful grey eyes. All my thoughts vanish from my head as I do so. Then the waiter comes, breaking away our awe for each other. "What would you like?" The waiter asks.

"Um, Pizza!" I say excited. Pizza was always my favorite food. Markan laughs and orders a pizza too. We sit in silence and my memory of Father's talk came back.

My face must show some kind of fear because Markan asks, "Are you okay, Kala?"

"Yes." I lie as I bite my lip.

"No, tell me the truth." He says sternly.

"No. I don't want to ruin our date." I grimace.

"You are ruining it by lying to me." He says.

"Fine," I take a deep breath, "The Hunger Games are back and I am most likely to be chosen to go."

"Oh," He says. I have officially knocked all the words out of his mouth.

"I'm scared." I whisper. Markan is the only person I will admit true signs of fear to outside my family. He is the only other person I trust.

"Of course you are Kala," He tries to comfort me but I just cry. I cry right here in the middle of the restaurant. "Let's go home," He says after I have calmed down a little. We get up and walk outside, it is pouring down rain now. Markan puts his jacket over my shoulders as we walk in the pouring rain towards Victors' Village. Once we get to the outside gates Markan holds me close to him. "I love you, Kala. And nothing in the whole wide world can stop that okay?" I look up into his calming grey eyes and feel a sense of peace in this world full of hatred and lies. The rain pours harder, as if buckets of water were being dumped continuously. Suddenly, his face comes closer to mine, or my face comes closer to his. I can't really tell. Then I feel our lips touch. My body suddenly becomes warm and gooey on the inside, like a chocolate chip cookie. All of a sudden, I feel his tongue in my mouth. I then wrap my cold arms around his neck and I can feel his arms around my waist. I can sense his tongue explore my mouth, which sends shivers down my spine. We then start walking until my back hits the side of my house. If someone came outside and saw this, man would I be in trouble. I feel his hands move from my waist to my braid. I feel him undo my braid. He instantly starts to run his hand through my hair, making goose bumps appear. After about two minutes of this we pull away and look at each other. We both have smiles plastered on our face. I don't know if it was my teeth chattering or my body shaking, but Markan saw that I was cold in this forsaking storm. Well, more of a pouring rain, not a storm… Yet. Anyways, he pulls me into a hug. I dig my face into his chest as I feel his chin rest on my head.

"I think I should go in…" I say regretting the words as soon as they left my mouth.

"Yeah," he says, "It's getting late."

We then head to up to my front door. I open the door, "Mother, Father, I'm home!"

Father and Mother were sitting on the couch, watching the TV. Which we barely ever do. Father was probably trying to occupy Mother's mind. Father quickly looks at us, we are drenched from head to toe. Father gets up, "Want an umbrella for your way home, Markan?"

"No thank you, Mr. Mellark." Markan says, "No need for it now, I'm already soaked." With that Markan opens the door and says, "Bye!" Then he leaves the house closing the door.

I walk towards the stairs when Father says, "Hold it there, young lady."

I turn on around on my heels, I must have been smiling like an idiot when I came in, "Yes?"

"Why are you so happy?"

"Uh, no reason…" I lie, I can already feel my teeth plummeting into my lip.

"Okay, then why is your hair down?"

My hands instinctively rush to my head and trace my hair down to the ends, "Uhhh… Um… Because… uh... I uh... took it down?" I can feel my cheeks becoming hot.

"And why would you do that?"

I choke on this one. Why would I take my braid out? That's when I look over to the couch and see Mother with her knees to her chin. She is whispering things over and over. I take out what the words are but she says what seems to be a list. She keeps repeating this list over and over. Her eyes are big and she is trembling. I then bring my attention back to Father, "Look, I know you love to interrogate your daughter, but I don't think it's helping out your wife over there."

Father looks over at Mother then to me. He sighs in defeat as he goes over and pulls Mother into his arms. I take this as my ticket to go to my room. I sprint as fast as I could to my door and run into my room, slamming the door shut behind me. I then change into my nightgown and snuggle up into the covers as I dream off to dream land.

I awake from Mother shaking me, "Time to get up!"

"Mother, It's Sunday, It's time to go back to sleep." I say as I put a pillow over my head.

"Yeah, but this is important, Kala." She says practically dragging me out of bed.

"What is it?" I moan as I stand up on my own feet.

"You need to get into some work-out clothes." She says simply and walks out of the room.

I moan and dig through my drawers until I find a light pink t-shirt and black sweat pants. I quickly change and put a braid into my hair. I walk downstairs to find oatmeal on the table. I quickly run to the table and eat as much oatmeal as I can, remembering I didn't have supper yesterday. After that, Apoy comes down and eats his breakfast pretty fast as well. Then we decide to go sit on the couch. After about five minutes, Mother comes down the stairs. "Where are we going?" I ask as I pull on my black tennis shoes.

"Haymitch's house." Mother says.

"Why?" Apoy asks.

"You'll see when we get there." Mother says and we are out the door walking towards Haymitch's house. I wonder what we are doing.


	3. Chapter 3: Training

**Hey guys! I love updating! I update so frequently that I'm on Fire (woops! No pun intended, lol!) XD Anywho, I love Katniss! Sorry, just had to get that out there! Katniss is probably my favorite character in the series, Leeg1 and 2 are third, while Peeta has to be second. Then Annie is fourth and I would have to say Beetee is fifth! And I was asked what districted I would live in if I could choose. Well, I would choose District 3, because it holds scientists, and I ***LOVE*** science! ;) But, if I couldn't get District 3, I would choose District 12 because the Peacekeepers there aren't as harsh and you can starve in safety, as Katniss puts it. Anyways if you read this authors note in your review please put what District you would want to live in! Thanks and I am not Suzanne Collins!**

**ALSO! READ THIS GREAT STORY CALLED: Children of the Games. It is the MOST epic story I have ever read! (Well other than the Hunger Games trilogy itself…) It is written by my friend MrsLukeCastellan.**

**Anyways, Onto the story!**

Mother leads us into Haymitch's house. Not even bothering to knock. His house reeks of alcohol, sweat, and garbage. Mother then leads us to his kitchen. Our house is pretty much the same set up as his. Mother then opens the closet in the kitchen and I see that this isn't a closet. There are stairs that lead you down to a basement. I can tell this wasn't made by the construction workers who first built the house. I can see Haymitch made this himself. Mother then led us down the staircase, closing the door behind her.

The room was like a gymnasium. It had a hard dark black floor and dark grey walls. Weapons and dummies took up about two-thirds of the whole room, and this room was huge. Like the size of six basketball courts put together. Then the other third of the room held random small stations with random materials in them. I can see Haymitch and Father in deep conversation by the rack full of sharp, lethal, treacherous axes. Mother clears her throat and the two take their attention to us.

"Hey Kiddos!" Haymitch says.

"What's going on?" Apoy asks, taking the words right out of my mouth.

"You guys are going to be training. If one of you gets reaped, you will have to know how to use weapons and how to survive." Mother says. Apoy nods. Mother then walks over to a chair by a station that has pictures of random berries and sits there. Haymitch and Father walk up to us.

"So… What do we do?" I ask in confusion.

"Well, we need to first find a weapon for each of you. So that way you guys will know what weapons you are good at and which ones to stay away from." Haymitch says, he is surprisingly sober, "So let's start over here." He takes us to a rack that holds a mace, "Kala, you will go first then Apoy. We will do this at every station. We will move around clockwise."

I instinctively look to my right to see what we will be doing last. I mentally moan when I see the bow and arrows. I will have to try all of these weapons before I even get close to my favorite one. I roll my eyes as I grasp the handle of the mace. I lift it and head over to the dummy. I swing it at the dummy, then notice that I hit it in the right thigh, when I was aiming for the heart. "Guess, I'm not good at maces," I grimace as I give the mace to Apoy. He actually is pretty good at it, beating up the dummy very well. We then head over to the throwing knives.

"Can I go first?" Apoy asks Haymitch.

"Sure." He says and Apoy grabs a knife off the table of knives and steps back about twenty feet away from the target. He aims and then throws, it doesn't even hit the dummy. It flies past the dummy and knocks into the rack of axes.

"Oops," Apoy says as Father picks up the knife and brings it back to the table. I then walk over to the table and select a knife. "Good luck," Apoy smirks.

I walk to where Apoy stood when he aimed for the dummy. I wind my arm back and aim for the heart. I then throw the knife through the air. It landed right on the heart. I gasped. "Woah," I say. We then move on to all of the stations and after we were done Haymitch sat us down to give us our report.

"Okay, Kala, for your weapons, I would suggest any long ranged weapons. Apoy, you should go for short ranged weapons. You guys are complete opposites when it comes to weapons." Haymitch says.

Apoy and I laugh at this. It's funny because we are totally opposite people. Usually, whatever I am good at, he is bad at; and what I am bad at, he is good at. I envy his ways of being able to cook without burning down the house, and he wishes that he could draw anything his mind thought of.

For the rest of the day we spend lots of time with Mother learning about survival skills. Then when it is ten at night we go to home and head to bed.

After school every day for a month we are to go to Haymitch's house and train. Although, one day after I got released from school I started on my way to Haymitch's house when I saw a girl sitting on the side of the path. She had rags for clothes and was shaking a tin can. She was begging for money. When I past her I saw the gleam in her blue eyes, her blonde locks curled around her face so sweetly. I stopped. "Money please?" She asked as she shook her can.

"Why do you want money?" I asked. People try to do anything to scam others for money.

"My parents died about three months ago and I have to take care of my six younger brothers and sisters." She said, "At first, I used the money my parent's saved in a jar for a rainy day. That ran out about five days ago and we really need food. I just, just, can't go back to see their starving faces and empty stomachs that have been wanting food so bad."

I look at her. She seems to be on the scrawnier side. I can't think of anything other than she is telling the truth. "What's your name?" I ask.

"Iris." She says.

"How old are you?"

"Fourteen years of age." She says meekly.

I then dig into my pocket and find my allowance of gold coins and place them into her can. She looks at me in disbelief. Then the next thing I know she gives me a hug and rushes off to town. I sigh as I continue walking towards Haymitch's house.

Training for the rest of the month goes smoothly, I am good at the survival stuff, while Apoy is mainly weapon and fighting based. There are really only two weapons I am good at and Apoy can use all the rest without any struggle what so ever.

I go to bed one night and Mother comes into my room and sits on my bed, "Kala, no matter what happens tomorrow, I will be with you every step of the way." She then kisses the top of my head. Oh right! Reaping day is tomorrow! I almost forgot with all this training and what not.

"I love you Mother." I say.

"I love you too, Kala." Mother says.

"I'm scared," I admit. I really am scared, what if I have to go to the arena? What if I die!

"I was too, but you are strong Kala," She says.

"Thanks Mother." I say as she leaves my room to go counsel Apoy who is screaming and throwing things in his room.

I know I am strong, but can I stay that way?

**How did you like it? I won't know unless you review! :D**


	4. Chapter 4: The Reapings

**Hey guys! Just letting you know starting Wednesday, I may or may not be able to upload my story for three weeks. Because, I will be in Europe. So I hope you don't give up on my story! I will try to find ways to upload while I am away, but I make no promises. Enjoy this chapter, I am not Suzanne Collins.**

I wake up for the seventh time and it is finally dawn. I have been having terrible nightmares last night. So terrible that I resorted to sleeping with my parents. They are out of bed now, but earlier, when I first came into their room, they were inseparable. I mean it too; Father was holding onto Mother so tight that I had to wake him up to let me in the bed.

Apoy must have come in her too, because he is sleeping right next to me. He looks so sweet and innocent, yet his name is in that glass bowl twenty times. I can't even think about it. I get out of bed and wake Apoy up so we can get ready. We have to be at the square by noon and we slept in until ten.

I walk to my room and lying on my bed is white sun dress. I sigh and put it on over my body. The white silk flows down to my knees while the sleeves are just past my shoulders. I look at myself in the mirror, and I feel like an angel. I braid my hair, the usual braid. I smile at myself and spin around. I walk to my closet and pull out some white ballet flats and slide them over my bare olive skinned feet. I then remember something important. I kneel down at the side of my bed and pull out a cardboard box from under it. I take out the MockingJay pin my mother wore and place it on my collar. I take a deep breath before heading downstairs. I walk through the living room to the kitchen.

Mother is wearing the light blue dress she wore when she volunteered that sad day so many years ago. Her hair is braided the same way it was then too, she looks exactly the same way she looked that day. She looks beautiful. She sits down at the dining table and digs into her waffles like she will never eat again.

I sit at the table and do the same. Who knows if I will ever eat here again? If I will ever walk into this house again? If I will ever see Apoy again? If I will ever see Markan again…

It is eleven thirty and it's time to head to the square. "Apoy! Time to go!" Father yells up the stairs. Apoy rushes down the stairs. He is wearing a white button down shirt and some khaki pants. His tan dress shoes tied up tightly. It is a long walk to the square. Mother pauses every five seconds it seems. Father ends up putting his arm around her waist to keep her moving. Once we get to the place of check-in, Mother and Father kiss us and head to the stage. They sit on chairs placed besides each other. After a while a staggering Haymitch enters the stage and sits to the left of Father.

It takes a while but finally we get to our turn to get our finger pricked and then we head to where we are to be fenced in. I am in the seventeen year old female stringed off area. I can barely see Apoy in the thirteen year old boys' area. Then suddenly a lady with bright green hair and blue skin walks onto the stage. She taps the mic. BONK! BONK! BONK! "Welcome everyone to the District 12 reaping of the 76th annual Hunger Games!" She shrills, "My name is Minky Dashlocks! And I have a very exciting video for you." She then turns on a video and I can tell it is the one they used every year when my parents were kids because I could see Mother mouthing every word as they go along. "Okay!" Mink continues, "Ladies first!" She then walks over to a glass bowl. All I can do is pray not me. Not me. Not Kalayaan Mellark. Not me. And it isn't. "Trixie Hawthorn!"

I am shocked, completely and utterly shocked. I watch as twelve year old Trixie walks slowly towards the stage. Her hair is in pigtails and she is wearing a bright orange dress. I love her like a sister, and I think my brother loves her with a different interest. I can't just let her die, but I can't do anything to save her. Or can I? "I volunteer!" I shout. Everyone gasps and turns to me. Why do I feel like this is a DeJa Vu moment? I then start to walk towards the stage and I see Mother is in a flashback when I get there. This seems so familiar. Oh right! Because Mother volunteered to save my Aunt Prim! Just like I volunteered to save Trixie… Oh, won't the press have fun with this?

"What's your name?" Mink asks.

"Kalayaan Mellark." I say proudly and firm. Everyone gasps, what the heck? I have dark hair that's braided, olive skin, and I am wearing the MockingJay pin! Who else would I be? Santa Clause?

"Oh, wow! Your parents are the mentors!" She exclaims.

I roll my eyes and smirk, "No der, Sherlock."

"Okay then…" Mink says as she turns to the other bowl, "For our boys…" She reaches in the bowl. I cross my fingers. Not him. Not Apoy. It can't be… That is when she finally lets out a shrill, "Apoy Mellark!"

I shout, "No!" I would be running off the stage, if it wasn't for Father holding me back.

I watch as little innocent Apoy walks terrified towards the platform. I can feel the tears streaming down my face. I gaze about the crowd and see them crying too. Then I hear a familiar voice shout, "I volunteer as well!" Who was that? That's when I see Markan walking towards the stage.

I gasp as he walks up onto the stage and Father finally lets go of me and sits back down in his chair, in between Haymitch and Mother. "Two volunteers from District Twelve?" Mink exclaims, "This has got to be a new record or something!" She finally asks, "And what is your name, my dear?"

"Markan Hitshot." Markan says, I can't tell his emotion.

"Well here are your District Twelve Tributes! Kalayaan Mellark and Markan Hitshot!" Mink explodes. No one cheers or claps. Who would? They just have anger in their faces. "Shake hands you two!"

Instead of shaking hands I hug him tightly to me and whisper, "Thank you, thank you, thank you." I just whisper that over and over and over.

When we pull away I can hear Mother mutter, "The star-crossed lovers of District Twelve."

**So… How did you like it? Did you think it was too cheezy? :P**


	5. Chapter 5: Goodbyes

(A/N: Hey I know it took a while to get this up, but. I was/ am in Europe! So it took a while to get to a laptop, because I was typing on my iPad which can't upload stories to fanfiction! Je regrette!")

This seat is so soft. I am sitting in the Justice Building waiting for my visitors before I am sent to my ultimate demise. Apoy bursts through the door. I rush up to hug him in my arms as tight as I can, "You have to be strong. You can't cry, even if I die. You have to show them that they don't own you. Just like Father says."  
"Dad said that?"  
"Oh, that's right! He didn't tell you did he?" I say as I remember Mother and Father were still firm on the 'you have to be fourteen' rule with Apoy.  
"Tell me what? They did tell me what the Hunger Games were slash are but I didn't know that there was more..." He says.  
"I can't tell you..." I say, pulling away from our hug.  
"Why not?"  
"Because I can't."  
"That's unfair!"  
I sigh, "It's Mother and Father's choice when to tell you and-"  
"Your time is up," A peacekeeper says walking in, grabbing Apoy, and carrying him to the door.  
Apoy is fuming with anger as he starts to thrash in the man's arms, "I hate you Kala! I hope you die in that arena you-" Then the door is closed.  
I sit there quietly, so this is my last memory of Apoy. This is his last memory of me. I shouldn't have brought anything up. Stupid. Stupid girl. I am taken away from my thoughts when Father walks in through the door. I open my mouth before he can open his, "Why are you here? I thought you were supposed to be mentoring on the train."  
"I was going to," he said, taken aback by how snappy I must have sounded, "but I can't leave your brother home alone for a month. So your Mother had to go, no ifs, ands, or buts, she is the only female victor we have. Haymitch, on the other hand, will gladly help out and be the male mentor for this year."  
"Oh, okay..." I say a little awkward. Then, I am flying into Father, hugging him tightly, "Make sure Apoy is okay and if I do die, don't let Mother blame herself, please."  
The next thing I know, Father is out of the room and in skips little Trixie, "Why did you do that?"  
"Do what?" I ask, even though I already know the answer.  
I sit into the comfy purple leather chair I was in before and wait for a response, which doesn't even take a second. "Why did you volunteer for me?" She asked.  
"Because, I couldn't bare the thought of you dying. I love you like a sister."  
"Oh," She said as she came closer to me, gripping me into a huge hug, "Thank you very much."  
I laugh a little, "You're welcome very much."  
We then hug each other again and the remembrance of what is going to happen in just short week creeps back into our minds. We then sit in silence just hugging one another. A few seconds later a peacekeeper comes in and takes Trixie away.  
I am now not expecting any more visitors. So I just slouch down into the chair and wait to be taken to the station by the car my parents described to me four years ago. I look out the window when I hear the door open and close. I turn my head towards the door and see Rory. I smile. "Hey," he says quietly.  
"Hey," I return.  
"Thank you for volunteering for my daughter."  
"Oh, it's no big deal."  
"Yes, it is, you just sacrificed your life for her. You do know that right?"  
"Yes, but I am going to win," I stand up, "I am coming home," I shout that, even if I don't completely believe it myself.  
"Of course," he says and gives me a hug, which I return. Even if I don't feel like having people touch me right now, I cannot turn down a hug.  
When he leaves, I sit there in fear, awaiting for what will happen soon. So soon. Too soon.  
In about a second a peacekeeper comes in and tells me it's time to go. He and three others guide me to the car. Mother and Father were right. It is small. Mink sits in between me and Markan. Then we are off.  
I find myself staring out the window a lot on the way to the train station. I have never ridden a car through District 12, and it fascinated me how fast we were going. I never thought we could move this fast through District 12. I am always this curious, but as they say, curiosity killed the cat. I am most likely to be that cat in a couple of weeks.  
We finally get to the train station. I can see my mother waiting to be let on the train with Haymitch next to her. I walk up and tap her on the back. She reaches behind her in a snap, to probably grab an imaginary arrow. Then she turns around to see me. I can't tell her emotion, she is wearing her blank mask and is staring right through me. Her grey eyes that usually give me comfort, are full of determination. She then smiles and turns back around. She then starts to whisper what I can only make out as nonsense, to Haymitch. The train finally opens it's doors and We all make our way towards it. Haymich gets on the train with ease. I follow right behind Mother. She takes a step onto the train and freezes in her tracks. She doesn't move. "Are you okay, Mother?" I ask.  
She takes a deep breath and finishes walk up the steps. I follow behind and almost fall over when I see what is inside. The whole entire train is beautiful! I mean there is everything you need. It is a house on wheels! I see Mother is sitting down on a couch. Haymitch went to another cart and Markan is right behind me with his hand on my shoulder. I slowly walk to the seat next to Mother on the couch and sit by her. Markan sits by me. We sit in silence for a while, then Mother gets up, "In an hour come to the dining cart. We will talk from there." She then walks out of the cart, swiftly into the next.  
Markan and me are left alone. I sigh, leaning back into the sofa. Markan does the same. He also scoots closer to me until we are touching. I lay my head on his shoulder as he kisses the top of my head. I smile, and then he lays his head on mine. We don't need words to know what is going through each other's heads. He wraps his arm around me and we just sit like that for what seems like an hour. I look at the clock. It has only been forty-five minutes, "Hey, I'm gonna go change."  
"Okay, see you in the dining cart." He smiles.  
I get up and walk to my bedroom. The only reason I know it is mine is because the blankets are pink and it's not Mother's because I walked into her's before I found this room. Her room had light yellow bedding and there were papers all over the floor with broken books scattered around. My room, on the other hand, is sparkly clean.  
I close the door and walk to the dresser. I take out a pink t-shirt and some white sweat pants. I place the neatly folded clothes onto the bed. I then take off my white silk dress and discard it onto the floor. I slip into my new clothes and look at the clock. Time to go to the dining cart.  
I walk out the door and to the dining cart. Mother and Haymitch are on one side of the table and Markan is sitting across from them. I sit down by Markan and Mother smiles at me and then takes a deep breath, "We have decided that we will let you guys choose which mentor you want."  
"Really?" I ask.  
"Yes," Haymitch says.  
"Okay," I say and look at Markan. He has no expression.  
"You can choose first, Kala." Markan says.  
"Okay," I say looking at Mother then to Haymitch. Back and forth, back and forth, "I choose... Haymitch."  
Mother looks shocked and sort of disappointed, but Haymitch has a smirk-like smile plastered across his face. "Why?" Mother asked.  
"He helped you win. What's to say he won't help me win?"  
"Fine, Markan come with me," Mother says, she sounds hurt. They both get up and leave the table. They head to the "living room cart thing" to talk in private. I just sit and look at Haymitch. He isn't entirely drunk, but not entirely sober either.  
"So what's my first lesson?" I ask.  
"I don't know... He says, do what ever you want."  
"Haymitch! I need help, please?"  
"Maybe later..." He says picking up his drink.  
"I guess I should have picked my mother..."  
16 minutes ago

"She wouldn't teach you a thing. She would be crying the whole time. It's better her to mentor the boy."  
"He has a name."  
"Like you and I care. You'll both be sent to an arena in a week to fight to the death. Only one of you can win, and I think that you want that one to be you."  
I am silenced, I do want that one to be me, but that means that Markan has to be killed. I then open my mouth, "But Mother and Father-"  
"You better not finish that sentence. They won't let what happen to your Mother and Father happen to you. If they do, it would be for a very, very good reason."  
I sigh and lean back into my chair. I already know what I am supposed to do from Mother and Father during those months of training. I just thought having a mentor would be a good idea. I guess whatever. I am most likely to die in the bloodbath anyways.  
After a while of sitting in silence, I walk to the room Mother and Markan are. They see me and wave me over to the television screen. They were watching the reapings, but by the time I got here I only saw my and Markan's. Then the television was turned off. I sigh and walk to my bedroom cart, change into some pajamas and jump into my bed. I curl up into a ball, and after many hours of coaxing myself, I fall asleep.

(A/N: I wrote this on my trip! I hope you enjoyed it. I am about to start the next chapter because we have a long, long car ride to Switzerland.)


	6. Chapter 6: Parade, Interviews, Suspense

**Hey! Just finished typing the last chapter! Lots of character go to my friend MrsLukeCastellan! Also, I put song lyrics that I don't own and I don't know who wrote it. Sorry! I don't own HG!**

It has been a long and enduring day. I just got off the train this morning and was rushed into this room, where my prep team removed every hair from my body (excluding my eyebrows, and eyelashes), cleansed me, and did other things that hurt. I feel sore everywhere.

I am in a silk robe that only goes down to my upper thighs and am sitting on a table. I wait for my stylist. Mother told me her stylist was a very nice and practical woman. I can just only hope my stylist is as half as good as Mother's.

A tall girl with pale skin and bubblegum pink hair walks in. She walks up to me, "Nice to meet you. My name is Rymey."

"You too." I say, trying to hide my anger.

"Stand up," She says and I listen. I stand up and straighten my back. She walks around me and raises my chin to get a good look of my neck. She then backs up, "Robe Off." I hesitate, but Mother told me and Markan this morning to do whatever they ask. I reluctantly take off my robe. I can feel her cold fingers trace the bones in my back. I shiver and she walks around me, studying me like I am a cake for her wedding. "Robe on."

I walk over and put on my robe. I feel more comfortable now. Wow, Kala, you are heading off to your death and your more worried about being nude. I walk over to where Rymey is sitting on the couch, tapping the spot next to her. I sit beside her. "So, am I going to be a coal miner?"

"I actually was thinking about making you unforgettable!" Her hands shake furiously in the air.

"What?" I ask curiously.

"So we know that we burn coal and that was how your mom was on fire right?" I think back to Mother's first games. She was the girl on fire. Coal is made to be burned. I wonder where she is going.

"Yes?"

"What do you get when we burn coal?"

"Energy?" I don't understand where she is going with this.

"What kind of energy?" She asks.

"Electricity!" I exclaim.

"You got it right! Burning coal produces electricity, and since you were produced by your mom, I think it is very fitting. I will make you electrifying."

I laugh at her last sentence. Before you know it I am in a silver unitard suit thing that has small light blue shiny lightning bolts about it; a head piece with blue lightning bolts that caress my temples and wrap around the side of my head; and my favorite, a light blue cape that flicks with even the smallest movements, leaving a trail of shimmering blue glitter behind that disintegrates into the air after peacefully floating around for three minutes. After I am dressed, I am immediately put down into a chair and am feeling my face being painted with different colors and powders. I then hear two members of my prep team bickering, "I don't know what to do with her hair!"

"Well you should!"

"But I don't!"

"Guys, just get it done. She will need to be down to the chariots soon!" Rymey yells.

"I know what to do," the quiet young member of my prep team says. I like her the best because she is so quiet. The young member walks over and takes my hair in her hands. I can feel her twisting and wrapping my hair. Finally when I am done, the prep team steps away and I can finally get a good look at myself in the mirror.

In the mirror is a girl with an intricate braided bun; a beautiful face that has light blue eyeshadow towards the lashes of her eyes and as you go up, gradients into white; her eyelashes are a silky black; her lips have a light blue lipstick, bringing out her royal blue eyes; and her cheeks are just the right shade of a warming pink peach. Is this me? Is this Kalayaan Primrose Mellark? Yes, yes it is. I am stunningly beautiful.

"Just push this button when you get out there." Rymey says acknowledging a small silver button on my right shoulder.

"What does it do?" I ask.

"Oh, you'll see." She says with a smile growing across her face.

...

The next thing I know, I am in the room before we have to board the chariots. Once Mother sees me, she is rushing over and hugging me, "You are beautiful."

I smile, "You too." She is just wearing a dark green long-sleeved t-shirt and brown pants with hunting boots, but I have always envied my mother for her looks. I look just like her, but she can pull off a t-shirt and unbrushed hair, while I can't. But, her grey eyes, I was most envious for. She just chuckles.

"This place is awesome!" I say looking at all of the horses.

"And great to make allies..." Haymitch says, butting into our conversation.

"That sounds great!" I say.

"Yeah..." Mother warns, "Just fourteen and older."

"Why?" I ask.

"Because your brother is thirteen..." She explains.

"Okay?" I asked confused, how does any of this have to do with Apoy? Oh well, I just want an ally!

I take this time to look at the other tributes, because I didn't get to do that earlier. I first look over at district 8's chariot. There is a little, I think twelve-year-old, girl with strawberry-blonde hair and green eyes. She is smiling at her district partner who looks to eighteen. He looks pretty weak, but he keeps the girl's mind occupied, instead of making her think about what was going to happen in just a short few days. He has my respect, to treat such a little child with such preciousness. I would do the same, if Markan hadn't volunteered. Where is that boy anyways?

Suddenly, someone puts there hands over my eyes from behind. "Guess who?" Markan says.

I laugh, "Um... A mysterious dog eating purple walnut?"

"No, guess again."

"Markan?"

"Yep!" He exclaims, taking his hands off my eyes.

"Yay! What's my prize?"

"You tell me." He spins me around and kisses my temple. He is wearing the same thing I am except, instead of silver with blue lightning bolts, his is black with yellow lightning bolts. And he doesn't have any make-up. Duh.

Anyways, we are all going to our chariots. I start to freak out when I see the District 1 chariot leave. Mother notices and is at my side in when District 5 rounds the corner. "It will be okay. Kala look at me." I look into my mother's calming eyes. "It will be okay, just smile and wave."

"But they are betting on my life!" I exclaim as District 7 is not in view anymore.

"Right now, we want them to remember you so that way if Haymitch or I need to send you something, we have the money." She says seriously.

"Okay." I say, Mother knows what she is talking about. She has survived this twice. I should listen to her.

I take a deep breath as we round the corner. I can't hear anything but a screaming crowd. All their eyes were still on District 2. I then remember my button. I press my shoulder and soon enough I am engulfed in light blue electric bolts. The bolts went from my shoulder to my hip, my head to my left foot, my hip to hip, and every where really. I looked like a storm cloud. I look to Markan and he has yellow lightning dancing across his clothes. We suddenly have the crowd's full and undivided attention. I wave and smile like I am a ditzy school girl. After a while the carriage stops and we apparently are distracting the attention from the president, so we are given rubber blankets, which stop the electricity while the president made his speech. We, then, are taken back to where we were before we left. Mother has a huge smile on her face and Haymitch has a smirk.

"That went better than I had expected," I sigh.

"It was great! I need to go check our booth for sponsors!" Haymitch exclaims before running out the door.

Mother than runs up and hugs me. I return her hug.

When we release, I notice other tributes staring at Markan and me. From the District 1 chariot there was two blonde hair kids with brown eyes. The girl looked weak and thin, but her glare is a deathly one. It makes me want to tuck my tail and run. The boy is staring, but it is more of a sympathetic look. He has a muscular build, kinda scary. I note to stay as far away as possible from them.

I then notice Two is looking at us also. There is a girl with long, dark hair. She reminds me of the girl who haunted my nightmares so long ago. She looks just like Clove in every way, which makes my stomach turn into knots. Her glare is the most sinister glare I have ever seen. Next to her is a boy with light blonde hair, he has brown eyes and is really strong looking. He sneers at us and his eyebrows twitch a little.

Then I notice Four is giving me two thumbs up, both of them. The boy is tall and skinny. He reminds me of Finn with dark hair and sea green eyes, but of course, Finn is stronger. The girl has dark red hair that comes to her shoulders in curls. Her eyes are hazel, and she is young, very young, I think twelve. She then whispers something to her district partner and runs off to District 8's chariot and talks to the young girl there. Mother notices all the glares and says, "They're just jealous."

I nod and look at Markan. He has been staring at me this whole time. I stand on my tiptoes and whisper in his ear, "I'm going to go over there." I point to where the two young girls are talking and giggling. He nods, kisses my cheek and I am off. I scurry to where the girls are sitting on the ground and join them.

"Hi!" The girl from four says.

"Hey," I return, the girl from eight seems to be shy and just smiles.

"What is your name?" The girl from four asks, "I didn't get to see the reapings, I was so tired!"

"My name is Kalayaan, but you can call me Kala. I hate my full name it sounds terrible together."

"What's your full name?"

"Kalayaan Primrose Mellark."

The girl from four gasps and the girl from eight giggles and rolls her eyes. She finally says, "You didn't know that? It is quite obvious!"

"No, I didn't!" The girl from four says.

"She looks just like her ma!" The girl from eight exclaims.

"Yeah, your right." The girl from four says examining my face, "But her eyes are blue!"

"Because her pa has blue eyes." the girl from eight says, smiling.

I laugh a little, "Yeah, my father has blue eyes. I get the rest of my looks from my mother."

The girls both start giggling. I then realize that they both know me but I don't know either of them, "What are your names?"

"My name is Aria!" The girl from four exclaims happily in relish.

"Allegra ," the girl from eight says, "How old are you, Kala? We are both twelve."

"I'm seventeen." I say happily. I cannot be upset when I talk to them, even if I am heading to a death sentence.

"Want to make an alliance?" Allegra asks both of us.

"I can't," Aria starts, "I am already in one. Against my own will, too." With that I can tell she feels uncomfortable and walks back to her chariot.

"How about you?" She asks me in her innocent little voice.

I cringe, "I... can't. My mother told me not to make alliances with anyone under the age of fourteen." With that I walk back to my chariot. Why would Mother tell me that? They would have been great little allies.  
When I get back to the chariot Mother and Markan are talking. I join in there conversation on how to find food.

We then meet up with Mink and are taken to a building. We jump into the elevator and Mink presses "12". We then are shot up several floors and enter a gorgeous room. It had a ton of rooms actually! I loved it. I run in and practically jump onto the couch. I can hear Markan laugh behind me. "Markan! Come here!" I yell opening my arms.

I watch as Markan makes a full sprint to the couch and jumps, landing on the cushion besides me. I laugh. We then both stand on the couch and start jumping up and down on it. It is so bouncy! We are both in a frenzy of laughter.

Mother then walks over, "If I wasn't your mother, I would think you were twelve!"

I stick my tongue out at her and continue on jumping. Finally, after ten excruciatingly fun minutes of jumping, we fall onto the couch, and sit there panting. Mother then walks over and sits by us. We sit in silence for an hour. I then look at her, "Where is Haymitch?"

"Still at the booth, signing up sponsors. You must have a lot if it is taking him this long." She says.

I and Markan hi-five each other. Mother smiles and I lay my head on Markan's shoulder. In another hour, Haymitch comes back and we all go to the dining table and eat. I can't tell what the food tastes like, I am eating so fast. When we are done, Mother and Haymitch go to their separate rooms. I stand up and kiss Markan on the cheek and whisper, "Good night," before heading off to my room.

I change into a nightgown and snuggle up into the bed. I drift off into a peaceful slumber and am awakened later by a piercing scream. I sigh, knowing Father isn't here, and get out of bed. I walk out of my room and see Markan in the hallway. "Go back to bed, I'll handle it." I whisper. He nods and walks back into his room.

I walk up to Mother's room. I put my ear against the door and hear her screaming, "PRIM! RUN! RUN! RUN!" I turn her door knob, but it's locked. I sigh and and walk to where Rymey's room is. I knock on her door, and she is awake. Who would be sleeping with a crazy lady screaming down the hall?

"What's going on?" She yawns, tiredly.

"My mother is having a nightmare, but her room is locked. Have a bobby pin?"

"Yeah," she groggily walks over to her bed stand, picks up the little metal object, and walks back, handing it to me, "just get her to shut up."

I nod and turn back to Mother's room. I put my ear to the door, no more screaming but there is whimpering. I jimmy the lock and walk into the room to find Mother hiding under her blankets, crying. I sit beside her on the bed and take the blankets off of her. Her eyes and cheeks are red and swollen; her dark hair is in a mess of tangles; she is all sweaty; she is holding her knees to her chest; her nightgown is torn and ragged on the edges; and she is weeping and hyperventilating. I wrap her in my arms and we sway back and forth, just as she did when I had nightmares when I was little. "Shhh... Shhh... Shhh... It's okay, you're with me now. Shhh... It's okay. It's gonna be okay."

She stopped hyperventilating. It made me smile. She looks at me, her eyes filled with salty tears on the verge of toppling over, this is now the fourth time I have ever seen Mother cry. She barely ever cries, "Why are you crying Mother? You are the strongest person I know."

She looks into my eyes and shakes her head, "Crying doesn't mean you are weak. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Crying makes you stronger."

"Oh," I say, "Well, do you want to talk about it."

Mother chokes in the memory of her nightmare and shakes her head.

"Is there anything you want?" I ask, this place is huge, I can get her anything.

"Peeta," except that...

"I don't think I can bring Father here. It would take him two days to get here, plus Apoy needs someone to watch him."

She sighs in despair and gets out of bed.

"What are you doing?" I ask as she picks up a hair brush and starts to brush her hair.

"Getting ready."

"It is two in the morning." I inform her, looking at her clock.

She shrugs, "I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. Plus, I have been awake for days on end before."

"That isn't healthy." I note.

"The Hunger Games are the opposite of healthy," She retorts.

I have nothing to say back. She did so much in The Hunger Games, l don't think that I could say anything back until I experience what happens in them. Which is exactly what I am going to do soon.

I watch as she carefully braids her hair and opens her drawers. She takes out a black long-sleeved t-shirt and dark green pants. She puts them on and discards the torn nightgown onto the floor. I then walk over to the switch by the door and flip it in. Man, does she make a mess. It is the first night and there are already clothes and trash scattered all over the floor. There are even holes, dents, and the occasional arrow in the walls. I notice a box on the ground. I open it and notice it is my special box. What is Mother doing with my special box? I take it and decide to carry it around with me.

When my attention is back on her, she is tying her hunting boots. She then takes a deep breath and is out the door. I follow her. She walks to the dining table and sits there. I decide she will be alright and head off to bed, put my box in the dresser, and continue with my good night sleep.

...

I awake from Mink pounding on my door. I get up and walk over to my dresser and notice a skin tight white shirt and pants with green stripes on the side, and the number 12 on it. Just like the one in my special box, except the one in my box is black and red.

I go over to my special box and decide to wear that one instead. Who would care anyways? It still has a twelve on it. Plus, it was worn by one of my heroes. So I have the duty to wear it. I pull it over my body. It fits length wise, but Mother was a little skinnier then I was, so it is a little tight around my waist. I am not fat, but we have to remember Mother was starving. Oh well, it fits pretty well other than that. I then walk to the mirror and braid my hair. I pull my shoes on and walk out into the dining room. I plop down next to Markan and examine the room. There is something off. I look at Haymitch, "Where is Mother?"

Suddenly, Mother walks into the room with a scowl on her face, she wipes her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt.

"Looks like our little girl on fire has a hangover." Haymitch snickers.

Mother shoots a look full of daggers at Haymitch. "Shut up," She growls at him.

"Mother!" I exclaim.

She sits down in the last seat, in-between me and Rymey. "What?" She says harshly. She puts her right temple in her right hand.

"Why?" I ask scooping myself a plate full of eggs.

"Because." she sneers.

Mother and Father were both always against alcohol and drinking. Then she just goes and drinks? She said one thing then did the next. I finish my food silently and head over to the elevator and press the button. It comes up in a minute and Markan jumps in. I look back at my mother and yell, "Hypocrite!" Then, I jump into the elevator and press the button that will take us to the training floor.

We get out and are the last ones to arrive. I know from that month of training that I am not to show off my bow and arrows, or throwing knives until the private session.

The training instructor talks and blah blah blah. I already know what I am supposed to do. I walk over to the making fire station and start to rub flint rocks to create a spark, then setting the wood pile I have made ablaze. It only took me a total of twenty minutes. I then go to the knot tying station, there is no one there. It makes me happy to be alone for a while. I sit there and tie different knots I know over and over. I then walk over to the berry sorting. I noticed Markan has been here all day. I walk over and push him out of the way and sort all of the berries in record time. And by record time I mean it, my name is right below my mother's on the record board now. "How do you know all of those berries?" Markan asks amazed.

"I go hunting with my mother." I say. My mother knows all of the poisonous and edible berries.

I then walk away, leaving him to his own devices and sit on a mat. I am so bored! I know how to do everything. I know what I am good at and what I should stay away from. I just want to lay here.

I sit and an hour later I hear a beautiful singing voice,  
"If I die young bury me in satin,  
Lay me on a bed of roses,  
Sink me in the river, at dawn,  
Send me away with the words of a love song."

I look up and see Allegra sittinging in the rafters singing. I smile, her voice is beautiful. I lay down and close my eyes, I am full of bliss.

...

"Kala, wake up!" Markan yells. I fell asleep?

"What time is it?" I ask. I cannot believe I fell asleep.

"Time to go back to the room." He says.

"Alright, let's go." We go to the elevator and press 12.

When we get up to the room I can hear Mother puking in her room. I sit and eat a quick dinner and then rush to Mother's room.

She is sitting on her bed clutching her temples. She looks at me, "Kala, I-"

"No. You are not sorry. You did this to yourself. There is no reason to apologize to me. Just... Ugh. Just clean yourself up. This one is a bad one. By tomorrow you should be fine, I think." I say, shaking my head.

Mother nods and lays on her side. She pulls the covers over her shoulders and takes deep breaths. She finally falls asleep. I kiss her temple and walk off to my room. I close the door, jump onto my bed, and everything is calm and collective for the rest of the night.

...

The next day of training went well. I just practiced with hand to hand combat. Anyways, I am waiting for my turn for my private lesson, Allegra just went in. I hope she does alright. If Markan and I both die, I want Aria or Allegra to win.

Soon enough, it's Markan's turn. He kisses my forehead, "Hit every target."

"Get them berries right," I smile back. He chuckles and leaves into the training room.

I sit and wait, alone. It seems to take him forever. The lady finally calls, "District 12 female."

I sigh and walk into the room. I look right at the game makers, there is a huge buffet of food. It looks so good. I have to look away to keep my mouth from watering. Most of them are drunk, a few are in deep conversation, and only one or two are actually paying any sort of attention to me. I take a deep breath, "Kalayaan Mellark, District Twelve."

I walk up to the throwing knives and pick them up. I see targets light up, I throw the knives at every target, hitting it right in the heart every time. I smile at my victory and look up to only see the two that were paying attention earlier were now about as drunk as the rest of them. I am so angry! No I am not just angry, I am livid! I hate these sadistic freaking games!

I storm over to the golden bow and then my mind comes up with a brilliant plan. I make a quick bee-line to the camouflage table and pick up colors of grey, white, black, and orange. I walk to the center of the room and start to paint. When I am finished I see a beautiful mockingjay with it's wings in full flight. I then take the orange and underneath the picture, I write, 'The Mockingjay is Still Soaring.' I then walk over to the fire starting station, start a fire and grab the golden bow and arrows and light all my arrows ablaze. I shoot them randomly throughout the training center. Soon enough, the whole perimeter of the training room is blazing in fire. Then I look up at them, they are all staring at me in shock and disapproval. I smirk then yell at them, "The fire is in me too!" With that I put my bow back and look up at them and smile sweetly, as if I was five and say in the sweetest voice possible, "Thank you!" I then walk out of training room and head to the elevator and press 12.

I finally get to the room and it is lunch time. Yum! I sit and eat with everyone else. Mother is doing great, she doesn't have anymore headaches, puking, or stuff like that. Mother smiles at us and asks, "What did you guys do?"

Markan smiles and says, "I sorted all the berries correctly and I showed what I could do with a sword."

Mother nods at him and turns her attention to me, "What about you, Kala?"

I don't want to tell Mother! She would be so upset. I try to think of something and the first thing that comes to my mind is, "I threw a few knives and shot a few arrows." Oh, Kala, you did more than that. It isn't a lie though, so I am not biting my lip. That's a good sign.

Mother smiles and we finish lunch. Mother then says that she wants to show us something. We both nod and are taken all the way down the hallway and up a flight of stairs. I gasp at what I saw. This is the roof! You can see the whole city from up here! It is beautiful with potted daisies and tulips. I walk to the edge and look down at all of the capitolites. They are moving around in there merry ways. It makes me sick.

I take a step back to the center and I see Mother sitting on a platform close to the edge of the roof. She is looking down, something tells me she sat in that exact spot before.

I sit in the middle of the whole roof and Markan sits next to me as I look up at the sky. I watch as the mockingjays and bluejays soar around in the sky. They are so free. I wish I was free.

We spend the rest of the afternoon on the roof. Then, we go down for dinner. It was delicious, whatever it was. It was some kind of meat. We then are on the couch waiting for our scores.

District One comes first. Apparently the boy's name is Stefan Alloy. He gets a nine. I am shocked when the girl comes up as Shimmer Alloy. So are they related? Anyways, she gets an eight. Then it goes to District Two and the boy's name is Jack Herp, he scares the living crap out of me. Anyways, he proves my fears by getting an eleven. An ELEVEN?! I am freaking out. Anyways I missed District Three because I was freaking out and I come back when the boy from four, Turner Diverson, gets a ten. Then I smile when I see little Aria pop up on the screen, I cross my fingers and she gets a seven. I smile even bigger. A seven is pretty good. I am so much in my own world of happiness that I don't realize anyone else's training scores until Allegra's face comes up on the screen. Ginger Disoler, the talk woman for this show says, "And the District Eight female, Allegra Milestone, a four." My heart sinks. How could little Allegra survive in a harsh arena? I hope she survives. No one stands out until we get to Markan. His face is plastered on the screen and Ginger says, "District Twelve male, Markan Hitshot," I can see Markan's eyes glued tightly to the screen. "A ten." Eveyone screams in celebration. Although, my eyes stay glued to the screen. When my face pops up everyone goes silent I walk up to the screen and kneel in front of it, touching my face. "District Twelve female, daughter of two victors, Kalayaan Mellark, with a score of..." Ginger looks at the paper and rubs her eyes, as if it is not real, "Oh my. Kalayaan Mellark, a score of twelve."

Not one person in the room speaks. Someone turns the television off. Mother looks at me knowingly, "Kala, what did you really do?"

I take a deep breath and tell them everything. I mean everything. I look up at Mother, her face looks nervous. "Are you okay, Mother?" I ask.

"Kalayaan, you can't do that! I don't want the game makers after you. I love you too much." Her arms are crossed over her chest and her eyes show remembrance.

"Mother, I'm sorry," I walk up and hug her. She just nods and walks off to her bedroom.

When she is gone Haymitch comes up from behind me and pats my shoulder, "Way to go kiddo!"

I make a small smile, "Thanks, Haymitch."

"No problamo!" He slurs and then he waddles off to bed. I go to bed to, not saying another word.

...

I wake up and go out to the dining table to eat breakfast. Today is a day off, so we can talk about what we will say during our interviews and, apparently, learn how to walk in these funny shoes with a stick at the end of them. I keep tripping and falling. I despise these shoes. For hours we practice this, until it's my turn for Haymitch and Mother's talk about what to say during the interview. Mother smiles as I come in.

I sit down, and look at them. "So can you talk like your dad, or are you as boring and dull as your mom?" Haymitch blurts out. Mother gives him a scowl and slaps his shoulder, hard. "Ow!"

"I am not dull and boring!" She exclaims.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Haymitch says, earning another slap.

"I don't know," I say bringing the attention back to me, "I have a hard time lying."

"That doesn't mean anything," Haymitch says, "Lets test you."

"Test me?" I ask.

"Yeah, do you have more of your Mom or Dad in ya?" He says.

I smirk, "Ha! Like you can find out! What are you going to do ask me nonsense questions?"

"Oooh! I like this! I can work with this! You have your dad's humor tied with your mom's attitude!" Haymitch exclaims.

"I do not have an attitude!" Mother yells slapping him again.

"Stop it, sweetheart, your gonna give me a bruise!" Haymitch announces, clutching his shoulder.

"Oh, 'cause you don't get angry and upset all the time." I smirk, Mother pulls her attention to me and Haymitch laughs.

"Don't think that you are any better," I smile, "you're the drunken bastard that lives across the street."

Both of them look at me. I start to laugh, this is kind of funny. I think I will do this in the interview.

...

I am waiting for the interviews to begin. Our host is a man named, Killian Stagenson, he has sleek dark green hair and light green skin. He sits in the center of the stage with a couch to his left. All of us tributes are on stage and are in a semi-circle around the back of the stage. I look at Markan and he gives me a reassuring smile. I smile back and pull my attention towards the interviews. They go by pretty quick and before I know it, it is my turn.

I stand up, my flowing light blue gown sways graciously. The edge of the skirt of the dress has a gold ribbon and at my waist is a golden ribbon that ties in the back. Every movement it makes sends gold shimmering glitter into the air. I can easily walk up to the couch in my ballet flats that perfectly match my dress. My hair is pulled up into and intricate braid that wraps around a side ponytail. There is a crystal blue headband placed delicately in the center on my head.

I sit down next to Killian and he smiles and asks, "How are you?"

"I've been better." I say nonchalantly.

"Well, that's good. Anyways, the audience wants to know how is it being the daughter of two victors?"

I smirk, "You want to know my home life? Why do you get off your lazy butts and actually get a life before going into other's, hmm?" The audience is in a frenzy of laughter.

"Alright then, um, about your training score. A twelve! Were you surprised?"

I can see the Gamemakers in the balcony. They have very angry looks on their faces. I smile, "Actually, I was. I am very proud of it though. I got to show the Gamemakers what I am _truly_ capable of."

"I bet you did. Anyways, do you plan on following in your Mother's footsteps?"

I smirk, "Yeah, As soon as I get grey contacts, become cranky, and set myself on fire." Everyone in the audience laughs at Mother's suspense.

"Now, about your brother-"

"Don't you even think about bringing my brother into this!" I snap.

"But I think the audience would like to-"

"I said don't bring it up!" I stand up and punch him the nose, soon enough blood starts to dribble down his lips towards his chin. I then cross my arms and stare out at the crowd.

The audience is now in pandemonium and peacekeepers are everywhere trying to calm down the crowd. The lights go out, and everything is pitch black. I start to hyperventilate. I don't know how to get off stage, but then I see small sparks a little off in the distance and hear cracking noises. Those noises can only be made by one thing. A machine gun.

Suddenly, I am pushed and I land in a dimly lit room. I can tell that it's back stage. I look up and see my Mother laying right on top of me. She pushed me back stage. "What the hell was that!?" Mother whispers angrily, rolling off of me.

"He brought up Apoy. Little innocent Apoy, What was I supposed to do!? I couldn't cry!" I whisper.

"All tributes and mentors to the training building. Interviews are over," a lady announces. Mother grabs my wrist and we are all taken to our rooms.

I sit on the couch and watch Mother angrily storm back and forth. I cry, "Mother, this may be the last night we have together. Please don't be mad at me. Please still love me." I can feel the tears pouring down my cheeks.

She then realizes what I had just said is true. She comes over and sits by me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. "I could never be mad at you," She says, "I am just mad at the situation. I will always love you."

I continue to cry, "I don't want to die."

"Then don't, you know what to do. Just listen to me while your in the arena."

"But we can't talk in the arena."

"You can talk to me. I can send you gifts."

I sniff and Mother leads me to my room. She tucks me in bed and kisses my temple. She is just about to walk away, but there is something I want, "Mother?"

"Yes?" She asks turning around.

"Sing."

She sighs and walks over to my bedside. She takes a deep breath and sings a song I have never heard before. After that she says, "I love you, see you in the morning." She kisses my temple again, and leaves the room.

I cannot sleep. I am terrified that this might be my last day of life, of air. I can't control my actions. I stand up and everything is a blur. The next thing that I know is that I am in the elevator, sitting in the corner crying. The door is closed but I am not moving. Suddenly, the door opens again. I see Markan enter the elevator. "Are you okay, Kala?"

I sniff and he sits behind me, enveloping me in his arms. He starts to rock me back and forth, back and forth. It seems like it has been an hour of nothing more than Markan rocking me while I cry before I can gather my thoughts. "I am sorry," I finally say in my hoarse voice.

He stops rocking me, "For what?"

"For creating chaos at the interviews. You didn't even get your turn. And for not only putting my life more at risk, but probably yours too. And-" He shuts me up, by pressing his lips against mine. All my once tense muscles, relax; goosebumps trace my arms and legs; and my eyes shut blissfully, letting darkness replace the poorly lit elevator. I turn my body around so I am facing him. I slip my tongue into his mouth and instantly feel the familiar shape of it. My arms cling to Markan tightly, never wanting to lose him.

He wraps his arms around my waist and picks me up so we at both standing. A single tear trickles down my cheek and around into the cracks of our adjoined mouths. What if he dies? What would I do then? I wrap my arms tightly around his neck. We start to walk backwards until I run into an elevator wall. It makes a "ding" sound, but we ignore it as run my fingers through his silky soft hair. He takes off the elastic from my braid and is starting to unbraid it when he stops midway. He pulls away from the kiss and his looking straight ahead. He instantly turns me around by my hips.

I notice we have pressed the number five when I was ran into the wall because there is an angry district 5 mentor in the doorway of the chrome elevator with an baseball bat in his hand. Markan's arms suddenly form an X across my chest as he pulls me as close to him as possible. I instantly feel my cheeks turn red.

The mentor starts to angrily mumble something about stupid district twelve love birds or something. He then rolls his eyes, gives us a glare, and reaches in and presses 12 on the elevator before turning around and walking away. It takes a second before the doors close and I exhale the breath I didn't know I was holding.

Markan kisses my forehead, "I love you, Kala."

I smile, "I love you too, Marky," I turn around in his arms and whisper into his ear, "And I will never love anyone the way I love you."

He smiles at me and we end up just staring into each other's pristine eyes until the elevator reopens on our floor. Markan scoops me up so that my back is supported by his right arm and my legs dangle over his left. He carries me to my room and lays me on my bed. I look up at him as he pulls the covers over my body. With that he kisses my temple and starts to walk towards the door. I can already feel the feeling of loss. The farther away he is from me the stronger it gets. I start to hyperventilate and can feel my face burning. Tears start spill down the sides of my face. Markan turns around in a snap. "Kala," He says softly walking back towards me, "Shhh..." I can feel the matress shift as Markan sits beside me. I sit up and he starts to rub circles on my back. He whispers ever so softly, "What's wrong?"

I look into those sweet silver eyes I may never see again and burst out into another raging sob. Markan pulls me into his lap and rocks us back and forth. I finally find my voice and say weakly, "What if I never see you again?"

Markan stops rocking. "We will both make it out. I promise," he says.

I sniff, "but what if we don't?" Markan rips a strand of hair off of his head and gently places it in my palm. He then wraps my fingers around it.

"For you to remember me."

I then take my shaky hands and pull out a strand of my own dark brown hair and give it to him, "For you."

I look straight ahead and no words are exchanged as I grip onto Markan's hair strand as if it were his everlasting soul. Then Markan asks, "You okay now?"

I nod in response and he leaves the room, closing the door behind him.

I try to stay awake, still scared of what tomorrow will bring, but fatigue wins out and I fall into a treacherous, deep slumber.

...

"It's time to board now," Mink says, leading us to a roof that holds two hovercrafts. I feel the silky hair strand in my pocket while we are faced with three different hovercraft. Mink leads me to a hovercraft that will hold the tributes. I take a deep breath and step into it. I am seated into a seat in between Aria and Allegra.

Before we take off, a lady comes around and starts to put the trackers in everyone's arm. She gets to Aria and Aria extends her right arm. "What is this?" I hear her little twelve-year-old voice ask.

"Tracker," I say, extending my right arm, "So they know if your dead, and where you are in the arena." I feel the pinch of pain and then she moves on.

"Oh," Aria says.

...

Finally, we are in the air and everything in the hovercraft is dark. After a while we land and I am in a small room by myself. In a few seconds, Rymey comes rushing in with clothing piled in her hands. She helps me get into a satin white undershirt, short skin tight black shorts, a dark green short sleeved t-shirt, knee length dark brown shorts, a dark green two-layer trench coat, and dark brown pants. This is a lot of layers. I wonder what the arena will be. She then helps me into dark brown boots. The kind Mother wears, except these are new. I make sure to take Markan's hair strand out of my old clothes before Rymey grabs them.

She then leaves the room and in rushes Mother. "What are you doing here!?" I exclaim, wrapping her in a hug.

"New rule, I can see you before you go in." She smiles and hugs me tightly.

"Really?!" I say happily. We finally release and Mother takes something out of her pocket.

"You forgot your token," She says holding out her Mockingjay pin.

"I thought I left that on the train!" I exclaim, tears streaming down my face as she places it on me.

"You did, I just found it," She smiles, holding back her tears, trying to be strong for me.

I then pull her in for a big hug, "Thirty seconds." My heart skips a beat. I am so nervous. So very nervous. Mother hugs me tighter and then we hear, "Fifteen seconds."

"You gotta go now," Mother says quietly.

I walk into the tube and it closes around me. I then tie the hair strand Markan gave me around the arrow in the Mockingjay's mouth so I will never lose it. I look at Mother and she smiles then it looks like she remembers something and starts to yell, but I can't hear her. "What?" I yell, knowing she can't hear me. It looks like she is saying 'Apple got reeked.' I don't get it. Then the platform starts to rise. I raise my head, like Mother told me she did and suddenly, I feel very hot in my clothes.

I look around and notice the arena is split into fourths. The arena has the fourths based on the four seasons. To my front right is winter, front left is fall, then to my back left is summer then to my back right is spring. Then outlining the whole arena are huge mountains. Finally, in the center is the Cornucopia with the contestant plates around it in a semi-circle. All of the Cornucopia and contestant plates are on a huge cement raised platform.

In the Cornucopia are several weapons. What is weird is that there are at least two of each weapon. Then there are more survival bags then normal. Everything in the Cornucopia is at least doubled, if not means two golden bows with sheaths and two vests of throwing knives. In fact, one of the bows is close to me, so close it is tempting.

I place my position to run towards the bow when I hear a voice boom through the arena, "Hello tributes! I know some of you are wondering why we have extra tribute plates," I haven't noticed that. I look around and there are thirty-six plates with out anyone on them. And all twenty-four of us are here, what gives? "Well, as punishment for disobeying during the interviews we are adding in twelve Capitol children, six female, six male," Suddenly twelve plates rise and I look at each of them, most of them have neon hair colors and then I get to a familiar face. Patricia. His voice booms again, "Also, as punishment for the districts trying to start another rebellion, we are adding in twenty-four more tributes, one female, and one male from each district."

Suddenly, twenty-four plates rise. To my right is a face so, so familiar. Her blonde curls caress her face so gracefully. Then the memory clicks in my kind, this is Iris.

I give her a smile and look to my left to see the most horrifying thing ever. I now know what Mother was trying to tell me.

Apoy got reaped.

**So there is your long chapter. It took me forever to write it. You better review now, because it was a lot of hard work! Well see you later alligators!**


	7. Chapter 7: Cornucopia

**Hey everyone! Not sure how long this chapter will be. Oh, And I don't own HG. And also, Thanks to MrsLukeCastellan for giving me her awesome characters and the push to not let me slack off… XD**

"_60, 59, 58…" _Someone booms through the loud speaker.

Apoy is turned to run towards the safe haven of the spring forest. He looks at how my feet are turned towards the Cornucopia, towards the bow and he shakes his head as if saying, 'No, don't do it.'

I look at him and all I can give him is a firm nod, because now that he is in the games I need that bow more than anything. I need to protect my brother; he needs to get out of here.

"_47, 46, 45…"_

I look around. Many of the other tributes are facing outward, ready to run away with nothing. A few are facing inward including… Wait… It can't be… I see Hunter facing inwardly towards the Cornucopia and, right next to him, a terrified Hannia ready to run into the frozen winter tundra. Patricia, who is only four to the left of me, is facing the Cornucopia, and Iris is readying herself to run towards the summer jungle.

_"32, 31, 30..."_

I bite my lip and start to strategize on how I can get into the Cornucopia, grab weaponry, grab a bag, and get out of there without dying. Maybe I could run in, grab the bow, and on the way back grab the bag that is closer to me? No, I should grab the bag first. I might need that more than the bow.

_"17, 16, 15..."_

I look over to Apoy. He doesn't seem worried about me anymore. He is just concerned with himself. Is he still mad at me because I did not telling him? Was he even worrying about me in the first place, or was it the shock of actually being in the arena? Kala, no, focus. I concentrate on the bag in front of me.

_"3,2,1!" then the gong sounds, "Happy Hunger Games!"_

I sprint as fast as I could and scooped up the dark green backpack. I swung the bag onto my back. I then set my attention to the golden bow infront of me. I dart to it and once I get my hands to grasp around it I feel a tug. I tug it back and look up to see who wants this bow as much as I do. To my surprise Hunter is right in front of me, his hands also grasped around the shiny weapon.

Not wanting to cause trouble, I release and run further into the Cornucopia. All around me is bloodshed, children beg for their lives with no mercy. To my left I spot a vest of throwing knives and grip it tightly to me as I start to make my way towards the spring evergreens. When I hear, "Hey, It's a Mellark! Get outta my way! She's my kill," I start to sprint faster and faster until I reach the forest.

I am only ten feet into the coverage of the forest when I get tackled to the ground. Who ever it is covers my mouth. I try to scream but I hear a familiar voice whisper, "shhhh..."

I watch a small group of tributes walk through the brush, fully armed. "Where do you think she went?" Mini Clove, that's what I have decided to call her, asks.

"I don't know," I hear little Aria pipe up, "She could be anywhere." The sword she carries is too heavy for her small, fragile figure, and instead of actually holding it, it is more like dragging it.

"Shut up pipsqueak and leave this to the big kids," Mini Clove, stocked with knives and darts, glares at Aria as they continue to search the area, completely oblivious to the bush me and my life saver are hiding in. Suddenly, we hear a series of cannons.

"Only five? Damn, there are still fifty-five of us out here," Shimmer exclaims.

"Guess we'll have to try extra hard then," Mini Clove smiles, I can already tell she is the leader of this group.

They then head back to the Cornucopia, when I roll over to see no one other than Hannia Hawthorne herself. She releases her hand from my mouth. "Thanks," I say.

"It was no problem, I saw you running towards the Cornucopia and I can't let best friends die."

I smile, "Thanks now lets start to get more into the forest," I pull my vest of knives around my body and hand Hannia, who has nothing, the dark green backpack.

I lead the way into the sweet smelling spring forest. We make no coversation, just walking. When I am sure we are far enoughe away from the Cornucopia, I start to look for a place to set camp. I find a small stream another mile in, grass and flowers scatter around the area. It is like a small clearing, a small meadow. The clearing is only about ten feet by ten feet, but thats enough to set up camp. "Alright, Hannia we are about six miles in. I think we start building shelter."

"Shouldn't we see what's in this bag first? It is kind of heavy," She says, putting the bag in the center of the small clearing.

"Oh," I say remembering the bag. I walk over and open it up, studying it's contents. A blanket, gloves, white wool socks, a scarf, a box of ten nails, a hammer, two different pairs of sun glasses, a bottle of iodine, two water bottles (one full of water the other empty), a brown hat that looks more like a giant sock, scissors, a package of salt, a package of nuts, and a small package of soft cheese.

I show Hannia and she smiles as she picks up the empty water bottle. She heads to the stream and scoops water up in the bottle, "Man am I thirsty."

She starts to bring the bottle to her mouth when I yell, "No! Don't drink that!"

She instantly stops and looks at me, "Why?"

"You didn't purify it! Who knows what sorts of bacteria are in there?"

"I don't know how to purify it."

"Here," I say taking the chrome water bottle out of her hands. I grab the iodine and drip three drops into the water, "Now you have to wait an hour before you drink it."

Hannia moans and sits beside me, "Alright."

"We need shelter," I say.

"I found a small cave on the way here, it is only about a quater mile back," Hannia informs me.

"That sounds good. We can stll get our water from here though," I say as we start to pack Hannia's water bottle back in the bag. We head back in silence until we reach a small cave.

Inside the cave dry but cold, it has a flat rock ground and the top of it has cracks so light can seep through. The enterance to the cave is already greatly camoflauged, you would think it was a grassy hill and you could hardly notice it at all. I am actually surprised Hannia saw it. "How did you find this?" I ask.

"Come here," Hannia says as I follow her to the back of the cave. Now I see. There is no grass growing on the back side of the cave, you can tell that it is a cave that just is stick up in the middle of nowhere.

I sigh, "Looks like I got a lot of work to do. Go unpack and I'll see what I can do." Hannia nods and takes the backpack inside the cave. I didn't get my father's art skills for nothing! I walk around and gather six armfuls of grass, making sure that they were not all from one place, because then there would be giant bald spots of dirt nd people would get suspicious. I then place the grass piles carefully beside the back of the cave. I know it will not hold for long, but just enough until I find something sticky so it will stay.

I then crawl back into the cave with Hannia, who pretty much organized everything. It is dark out now so I look at Hannia, "I watch, you sleep." She gives me an aprihensive look, but then gives in and snuggles up under the blanket and falls asleep. I have a throwing knife in my hand as I face the entrance to the cave. I keep a good eye out, looking for any movment. I can feel my eyes start to droop, but I try to stay awake. I stay awake for two more hours, but then in three heavy blinks, my eyes stay shut and I doze off.

**Sorry for the shortness, but hey you got your seventh chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8: The Face in the Sky

**Hey guys! I love writing! Anyways I am doing short chapters lately... Sorry. I just have a lot going on and it isguard for me to type on my iPad... :P Also, read my poem called "Cyber Bullying Kills."Read and review! Thanks and enjoy chapter eight!**

I wake up to a piercing scream. I look to my right and see Hannia isn't here in the cave. And I panic. I go to grab the bag pack only to find Hannia must have taken it with her. My vest of knives is gone and the only one I have is the one in my hand. I put it in my belt as I creep out of the cave. I look around and see foot prints embedded in the soil beneath me. Then, I hear a scream and sprint. "Hannia!" I call out, following the foot prints.

"Kala!" I hear. I follow the noise. I see Hannia tied up against the tree with the boy from nine in front of her. The boy has our bag around his shoulder and a knife up to Hannia's throat.

His voice is low and scratchy, "You think your little ally can help you? No. You know why? Because when I captured you, I took away her knives."

"Why don't you mess with someone that can put up a fight!" I yell.

The boy cranks his head towards me, "Crap!" Now he looks panicked. I roll my eyes as he starts to face me, "I was so sure I didn't wake you!" He then looks down at the vest wrapped around his body, "But you are weaponless," an evil grin grows across his face as he runs toward me with his knife.

I cannot do hand to hand combat. I start to panic and run towards him. I sprint as fast as I can and dodge him. I then cut Hannia from the tree with the knife from my belt. I place e knife back into my belt then yell, "Run!" We both start to run as fast as we can with the boy on our trail until I find a tree suitable for climbing. I start to climb the tree when I look down and see Hannia staring at me, "What are you doing?! Start climbing!"

"I- I- I can't. I am afraid of heights."

I look down at her and yell, "You have to! You will die if you don't!"

She starts to hyperventilate. She looks up at the tree and starts to climb. She has trouble so I grab her wrist and pull her up. The boy from nine shows up and smirks when he sees us in the tree. I place my hand on the knife in my belt. He walks up to our tree and uses the the branches to start climbing. I pull out my knife and when he makes his way onto our branch he starts to throw knives at us. I manage to dodge them all. Hannia, however gets hit in the leg once, but it isn't fatal. In fact, it is just a scratch from the blade slightly crossing the skin of her left calf.

I then take my knife and wind back my arm and throw the knife with all of my force. It hits it's target in the boy's heart and there is a cannon as he falls out of the tree. "We are alive," I whisper.

"We are alive!" Hannia yells as she starts to get excited. She bounces up and down and I smile. Finally, someone is happy. "We lived! We didn't die! We are alive! I am alive!" She then gets so excited that she leans to much to the left and falls out of the tree.

"Hannia!" I scream. As soon as she collides with the ground, I hear a cannon. Tears roll down my cheeks as I shimmy down the tree. I first walk to the boy and take the bag. I grab the vest to see he used all of the knives. So, just take the knife from his heart and place it in my belt. I then decide, even though he tried to kill me, he was a victim too. I place his hands over where the knife pierced his skin.

I walk towards Hannia's body slowly, terrified for what I am about to see. I kneel down next to her lifeless body. I find a stream of blood around her head. When I lift her I see it collided with a sharp rock. More tears spill over my eyelids. I lift her body, deciding this isn't the proper place for her to be. I start to walk towards the clearing where we first sorted out what was in the bag. I lay her in the long grass that is still dewed. Small delicate weeds caress her soft skin. I then kiss her temple and stand up. I look down on her body and whisper, "Thank you."

I walk back to the cave where me and Hannia were camped out. I crawl in and sit on the cold barren ground. I try to hold in the dumb human emotions. But find their way out through the cracks and let out recluse. I scream and pull my hair out. I throw my bag across the cave and cry loud. I pound my fists on the ground before I cup my face in my hands. The tears fall in storms. I have no way of controlling. I lay flat on my back and end up crying myself to sleep.

When I wake up, it is pitch dark outside. I guess that is what I get for going to bed so early. I grab my bag and decide to move out of the cave and to somewhere more safe. It is super dark and I can barely see the parachute landing right I front of my face. I open it and inside is sunglasses. I get confused, sunglasses, really Mother? I look closer at the, the dark making it hard to see, and notice they are the sunglasses I got on my fifteenth birthday. They would protect my eyes from all UV rays. I sight and put them in my pack.

Why would she send me sunglasses? Is she trying to tell me something? I freeze in my tracks and pull out the two different pairs of sunglasses that we're originally in my pack. I put othine pair and it makes everything darker, if that is even possible. I roll my eyes and try on the next pair. "Woah," I whisper to myself. I can see everything. It is like it isn't even night time. I smile to myself as I continueto walk. I don't run into anything! Suddenly, I hear music playing and I look up at the sky. The hologram first shows a Capitol girl, then Hannia from District 2, and lastly it shows the boy from 9. Then the music turns off. 8 dead, 52 more to go. I sigh, this will be a long Game. I finally decide to climb up a tree and spend the rest of the night in it. I tie myself in with the rope and stare at the starry night. A single thought comes over me, when will I see my brother's face in the sky?

**Did you love it? Review!**


	9. Chapter 9: Fire

**Sorry It took so long... School. Bleh! I am going to start with short chapters until I get into my usual long ones, well enjoy! ;)**

I sniffthe air and see a cloud of dust and ash around me in the early morning light. I look down and see a tribute from the Capitol has created a fire beneath me. I roll my eyes, great, and it's making all this smoke! I look down again at the girl, she has curly green hair and pale as white skin. I continue to watch the girl try to keep warm in the fire below.

Wait what's that? I spot a light gleam of bronze next to her. Half of the weapons were gold and the other half were bronze. I squint my eyes to try to make out what this retarded girl managed to snatch from the Cornucopia. It isn't until I see a sheath that I recognize she has a bow.

I try to plan my next move, when she sneezes, sending hot ashes towards the trunk of the trees around her. Before I know it, the ashes turn into flames that start to ignite the trees. Shit! I am screwed. The girl notices that she caught the tree on fire and tries to find a way to escape, but she is trapped. I probably am too. I untie the rope that kept me to the tree last night, as the fire creeps up my tree. I jump down, over the fire and land on the nice muddy surface of the early morning ground.

I start sprinting away from the fire faster and faster I sprint. I each a small river and wade across it. Once on the other side I climb up a tree and wait. By the sound of a cannon I know the girl didn't make it.

...

A few hours later, the fire dies down and I wade back across the river and through the ash covered greenery. I make it back to the spot where the girl once was and retrieve the bronze bow and the blackened sheath of eight arrows, with the feathers burned.

Now that all of that is over I am faced with my real challenge as my stomach rumbles and I find I have already ate all the food in my pack.


End file.
